Action Comics #1
Written by Grant Morrison
Illustrated by Rags Morales
Morrison writing Superman. Movin' on.
Stormwatch #1
Written by Paul Cornell
Illustrated by Miguel Sepulveda
There's my brah!
*Bump*
The Martian Manhunter's my second favorite character in comics, and I was confident he was going to show up somewhere in the new DC lineup, but not in Stormwatch, the Justice League of Totally Killing People. However, that does actually seem like a good fit for him. He's a hundred-thousand-year-old Superman/Clayface/Invisible Phantom/Professor X, which slots him in well with the power level of a team that includes the likes of The Doctor, aka the guy who can do anything. He's also always been a hair beyond the black and white morality structure that tends to define the rest of the JLA, and the solicitation text mentioning “changing [the] minds” of new recruits implies that he's more hardcore than usual about it.
I've never read any Stormwatch beyond a single trade of The Authority, but they're intriguing characters I'm interested in getting acquainted with. However, I do know enough about them to know that the costume redesign on the Midnighter there is... far from amazing. Trading trenchcoat for spikes, huh? Fire your tailor. I'm also not super keen on Martian Manhunter's no longer popping a killer collar. Apollo I could take or leave; he looks kinda good with short hair.
Also, written by Paul Cornell! He's pretty good. So, Martian Manhunter, a character I love, working with a totally different team, which has gotten good buzz in the past, written by Paul Cornell. We got a winner.
Aquaman #1
Written by Geoff Johns
Illustrated by Ivan Reis
I love Aquaman. He's had so many interesting, short runs... Come to think of it, maybe he'd be better off as an “occasional miniseries” kinda guy. Here's the thing: Johns' take on Aquaman, from what I've read of the Brightest Day miniseries, has been a pleasurable silver age-kinda romp with a zombie twist, but certainly nothing that'll get my three bucks month after month. The solicitation calls it “a thrilling new take,” so ideally it will be distinct and different. Johns really hits roughly 1 in 3 times, Ivan Reis is a good penciller, so they've got one issue to wow me. WOW ME.
Teen Titans #1
Written by Scott Lobdell
Illustrated by Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund
Superboy #1
Written by Scott Lobdell
Illustrated by R.B. Silva and Rob Lean
This is what being a relapsed Young Justice fan is like. Willing to ignore all the objective warning signs my brain is screaming at me for the chance to get some of that old magic back.
I mean, look at those Titans costumes:
- Superboy's sunk from jeans and a black Superman t-shirt to just the black t-shirt.
- The new character in the bottom left, “Bugg,” looks like a combination of Witchblade, Marrow, and Livewire.
- Robin's stolen something out of the Falcon's closet, painted it red, and added way too many utility belts. I mean, just look at him: utility belt, utility harness, and two more utility belts around his shoulders. There's preparedness, Robin, but that would make Batman take a step back and go “whoa whoa, let's not go nuts.”
- Wonder Girl's rocking that barbed wire lasso, because she's not so nice this time around, and you know what else isn't very nice? Barbed wire. Even the worst outlaws lassoed things with rope, y'know.
These are outfits that are really going to appeal to those poor kids that were recently awoken from their cryogenic freezing in 1992.
(Got nothing against the robot Tron suit from the Superboy cover, however.)
Two things appeal to me about this. The first is that they are really, really breaking away from norm here. For me, Teen Titans is meh at best, boring strip-mining of boring stories from the past then another teenager gets a bullet in the brain at worst. Here you're not seeing any of the legacy Titans characters; it's just the “new generation” and a couple new (yay!) though uninteresting (boo!) guys, and they're really messing with the preexisting guys. Tim Drake looks to be jumping onto the superhero scene with no ties to Batman and using a bulletproof cape and jet pack, Wonder Girl's a “powerhouse thief.” This is definitely a new thing, and, though I really love the characters as they were, I'm willing to give it a shot.
Secondly, you have Scott Lobdell writing. He's done quality work on the teen team book Generation X in the past, and here, judging by interviews, he's been given a huuuuuge degree of latitude to redesign and write these characters as he sees fit. Hopefully that'll lead to some really good, creative stuff. Furthermore, him writing both titles makes for easy crossover appeal. Put me down for a few issues, but don't prove my conscience right, then I'll never get him to shut up...
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